Arizona asks Supreme Court to allow execution

PHOENIX -- Arizona is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to let the state
execute a 70-year-old death-row inmate Wednesday for killing a Bisbee man more
than three decades ago.

A request filed Sunday by the state attorney general's office asks the Supreme
Court to lift a stay that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued Friday.

The 9th Circuit previously said a judge needs to consider whether Edward Schad
was denied effective legal representation after his 1979 conviction.

The state's request says the 9th Circuit abused its discretion by granting the
stay and acted illogically by ordering a judge to consider evidence that the
judge previously considered.

Schad's lawyers tell the Supreme Court that the lower appeals court didn't
abuse its discretion because a key court ruling over the issue of ineffective
counsel was handed down while he was appealing the case. His lawyers say the
Supreme Court has granted stays of execution in similar circumstances.

Schad was convicted of murdering 74-year-old Lorimer ``Leroy'' Grove of Bisbee
in August 1978.